Air tight?

[Mr. Kelly]

Hi all,

What protocols might I be able to use to ensure that my interior double wall stove pipe is, relatively, airtight?

I have about 8 feet of twisting pipe, consisting of a couple of angled pieces, and a telescopic one.

I’ve had to take this thing apart numerous times to clean it, and it’s always a bear to get back together.

This time around, I noticed that there are places where the pieces of pipe fit together where light can easily get through at the joints, upon aiming a flash light up at it. This is concerning, obviously.

it is likely that these spaces have existed for the last 10 years unnoticed. I have some time now to try to take care of some of these problems, and I am wondering what you guys would recommend to help ensure that these pipes are relatively tight and not emitting dangerous gases.

I have been contemplating getting some high temperature sealant to put around the edges of the pipes. Is this really the sole solution that I might have? Is there any particular type of sealant that you might recommend?

There are more holes in these pipes from screws than Swiss cheese. Some of the screws will not even tighten up to their fullest, meaning that they wobble a bit, and I can’t imagine that some gases would not be escaping at these points.

The bottom pipe that meets the stove has the usual flange, and it has never fit tightly to the top of the stove, given that the flange on the stove is probably about an inch tall, I haven’t worried about it.

I’m not even crazy about gumming up the pipes with sealant, because I’ll need to remove the pipes again next year, which means I’ll just have to pull it all off or cut it. Not something I look forward to.

Am I approaching this in a way that makes sense, or would there be another solution that might be better?

Thanks for whatever thoughts you have.

 

[GrumpyDad]

Hi all,

What protocols might I be able to use to ensure that my interior double wall stove pipe is, relatively, airtight?

I have about 8 feet of twisting pipe, consisting of a couple of angled pieces, and a telescopic one.

I’ve had to take this thing apart numerous times to clean it, and it’s always a bear to get back together.

This time around, I noticed that there are places where the pieces of pipe fit together where light can easily get through at the joints, upon aiming a flash light up at it. This is concerning, obviously.

it is likely that these spaces have existed for the last 10 years unnoticed. I have some time now to try to take care of some of these problems, and I am wondering what you guys would recommend to help ensure that these pipes are relatively tight and not emitting dangerous gases.

I have been contemplating getting some high temperature sealant to put around the edges of the pipes. Is this really the sole solution that I might have? Is there any particular type of sealant that you might recommend?

There are more holes in these pipes from screws than Swiss cheese. Some of the screws will not even tighten up to their fullest, meaning that they wobble a bit, and I can’t imagine that some gases would not be escaping at these points.

The bottom pipe that meets the stove has the usual flange, and it has never fit tightly to the top of the stove, given that the flange on the stove is probably about an inch tall, I haven’t worried about it.

I’m not even crazy about gumming up the pipes with sealant, because I’ll need to remove the pipes again next year, which means I’ll just have to pull it all off or cut it. Not something I look forward to.

Am I approaching this in a way that makes sense, or would there be another solution that might be better?

Thanks for whatever thoughts you have.

Im curious, why do you remove your pipes?
It seems the sweeps in here use a bottom up method of cleaning with flexible rods and a unit that allows you to attach to your drill.
If it is for inspection purposes, have you considered a snake camera like they use for plumbing? Im in the market for one because I had a 'creosote burnoff' this past weekend after only having burned about 1/2 of a face cord through my new stove.

 

[Mr. Kelly]

Im curious, why do you remove your pipes?
It seems the sweeps in here use a bottom up method of cleaning with flexible rods and a unit that allows you to attach to your drill.

Thanks for the question GD…

I have both a SootEater and a rod with a metal brush head on the end, both of which cannot be used with my kind of set up. They can’t get around the tight curves from the access points.

Plus, my wood is never fully seasoned. I can’t afford the extra cost, so I wing it and burn the cheapest I can get, which is always “green“. I’ve been burning it like that for 12 years without major problems, arguably, but I need to take the pipes apart to get them good and clean. The only way to fully do that is to take the pipes apart, sadly.

This year, I am trying to couple some of the pipes together in groups of two, to make removal easier, but I’ve had to drill new holes and insert new screws, and that leaves some old holes that I have simply filled with other screws. But that leaves some screws somewhat rattling around in there because they don’t fit tightly any longer.

So, that’s a bit of context for you.

 

[stoveliker]

Generally leaks in the pipe should not be a concern; they suck air in. If you have enough draft with the leaks for the stove to operate well, then this stuff being sucked in is not hindering the operation much. Sealant is going to make disassembly (and assembly) even harder.

Can you post pictures of your inside and outside flue system? How tall is it?

Buy one size larger screws to fill the open holes.

What I do not understand is the "I can't afford dry wood". If you buy green, and drying is free (just let it sit...), you can get dry wood. Just slowly increase the amount of wood you have on hand. If you buy 10% extra each time you buy, then in a few years you'll getting ahead. Then if you scrounge a bit, you're getting even more (free) in that allows you to get ahead.

Burning wet wood is terribly inefficient. You have to evaporate (i.e. boil and evaporate) all that water. This eats up a gigantic share of the BTUs that were available to you in the wood you are burning. You might be able to get your usage (and cost, if you buy wood!) down by 30% or so by letting it dry first.

 

[Mr. Kelly]

Interestingly, when I first started burning word about 12 years ago, my dad, and all of his neighbors, suggested it was hogwash to let wood sit like that, since nobody up there was doing that, contrary to what I was reading on here. They laughed at me when I tried to convince them otherwise.

I will try to figure a way to begin burning Greenwood, but that means that I have to buy a couple of cords to have sitting here for a year, and that’s the part that is a financial hit.

I have to say, about a year ago, a girl I was dating brought me about a third of a cord of kiln dried hardwood. I burned that right up against coming off of 2/3 of the season of my wood, and I couldn’t tell a night and day difference. It burnt quicker… Probably burn hotter, but not night and da It burned quicker… Probably burn hotter, but not Black and white.

no doubt burning dry wood will be more efficient. I think I’m going to order me up a meter.

thanks for letting me know that the holes in the pipe will be sucking inward rather than outward… That makes sense, and I intuitively thought maybe that was the case. My whole system doesn’t draft well, since it has a couple of turns in about 8 feet of pipe before it goes laterally out through the wall and up about 15 feet on the outside of the wall. That’s all the guy said he could do with the price that was reasonable.

with that said, I will probably block the biggest seam that was showing the light of my flashlight, and just let everything else be what it was for the last 12 years or so…

 

[stoveliker]

With only 15 ft, and elbows, part of the "suction" will get lost to the air leaking in at the seams. So then yes, it may pay to seal that. Some rope gasket may work too.

Do you have CO detectors? (Don't want any CO coming in at the end of a burn...)